A Call of Vampires (A Shade of Vampire #51)(67)

“Where the hell is Darius?” Hansa growled, looking around.

She’d been wounded, silver blood seeping from parts of her torn leather suit. Those shadows had some serious claws to be able to cut through that reinforced fabric like that. Only then did I feel a painful warmth in my side. I touched it and noticed blood on my hand. I’d taken a hit, too.

We galloped back toward the field, jumping over river rocks and tree roots. The terrain was difficult, but I forced our horses into it. We had to get out of there fast. Branches broke behind us. Something was still after us.

I glanced over my shoulder and identified the source of that noise. Darius was riding his horse after us.

“Where the hell have you been?” I shouted at him.

“I was here! Keep moving!” he shot back, his expression dark and firm, his mouth pressed into a small, thin line.

“What do you mean, you were here?” I replied. “While we were getting attacked back there?”

“I made it down here and waited for a couple of minutes. I thought I’d see you shortly. Just as I moved to come back for you, you all popped out, and here we are!”

I didn’t buy it. He’d most likely flaked, but it wasn’t the time or the place to call him out on it, not with our wounds and our desperate need to get out of that gorge.

We reached the field, and I could finally breathe again as we moved across the tall grass toward the dusty country road. More screams emerged from the gorge behind us, and I heard Hansa groan.

“No way I’m doing that again right now!” she said.

The Iman girl shuddered and coughed, and I saw blood pouring out of her mouth, trickling through my horse’s mane. I snaked my arm around her and gently pulled her against me. Her head fell back on my shoulder. She was limp, barely keeping her eyes open, and I felt the blood, warm and sticky, coming out of her stomach wounds. She’d been savagely slashed by those creatures.

“What the hell are those things?” Jax growled at Darius as we kept riding up the country road, with just one mile left to Azure Heights. The mountain stood tall and proud before us, with lights flickering from its buildings.

“I don’t know! None of us do!” Darius replied. “This was the first time I ever got so close to one of them, and I couldn’t even see what it looked like!”

“None of us could,” Hansa said. “They’re weirdly cloaked, almost invisible, but you can make out a form, sort of… And the eyes… Damn, those eyes are creepy!”

“Patrik, are you okay?” I asked, tense as I looked over my shoulder.

“Yeah, mostly,” he croaked, but I could see his pale skin and blue lips.

“He’s losing blood fast, and so is the Iman girl,” I said, nudging my horse to go faster. The creature obeyed, its hooves thundering over the country road.

I sensed motion and heard another horse to our left. I turned my head and saw my savior, covered in his black coat, riding an indigo stallion. He went ahead, faster than our slightly more regular horses.

“He saved us,” Hansa muttered, watching him go. “Who is he?”

“I don’t know, but he told me about hitting the eyes,” I replied, then glanced at Darius. “You have indigo horses in Azure Heights?” I double-checked.

He didn’t answer immediately, his jade eyes fixed on our distant savior.

“Not that many,” he mumbled.

“Whoever he is, we owe him our gratitude,” Hansa said. “For now, however, we need to hurry. Patrik’s losing blood fast, and I don’t even know how the Iman girl is doing.”

“Not good,” I replied, looking at her pale profile.

“We need her alive. She might have answers.” Jax moved to my right side, looking at the Iman girl as he beckoned his horse to run closer to mine. “Look at me.”

The girl didn’t react, but I heard her moan.

“Look at me,” he said to her, louder. He inched closer to us. The girl peeled open her eyes and glanced at him. It was enough for him to lock onto her, his eyes glimmering gold. “You’ll be okay. Stay strong. You’ll survive. You’re not dying, you’re just hurt. Hold on!”

The girl sighed, then nodded and focused her gaze on the road again. Jax had managed to mind-bend her into thinking she’d be okay.

“Why’d you do that?” I asked.

“Because if her mind fights against the reality of her wounds, she might last long enough for us to give her proper treatment and maybe save her life,” he replied.

The mind was capable of extraordinary things, after all.

I glanced ahead, but there was no sign of my savior anymore. Whoever he was, he’d come from Azure Heights and had an indigo horse. I’d have to look into it as soon as I got the chance. He seemed to know a lot more than the other Exiled Maras.

He’d clearly fought those entities before. Most importantly, he’d most likely followed us from the city into the Valley of Screams.





Fiona





(Daughter of Benedict & Yelena)





I didn’t get lucky with any of the notebooks that Sienna had left in the gazebo’s drawers. Just doodles and dreams of summer, mostly. Some notes about a mystery lover drew my attention, but Vincent shrugged them off, saying Sienna had a habit of falling in love on an almost weekly basis, but that she’d yet to find her soulmate.